Archive for January, 2008

The Web site for Padre Martinez Cura de Taos, padremartinez.org, has undergone a serious and early spring cleaning. Our new Web master, Melody Romancito, is making a few changes to the navigational links, and bringing all those item which belong under “news and events” to be listed here.

We’re hopeful you’ll like the new format. Any changes or suggestions should be brought to our attention by leaving a comment here.

A new edition of RELUCTANT DAWN, a biography of Padre Antonio José Martinez first written thirty years ago by Rev. Juan Romero, is available. To order this second edition by mail, please send your check for $22 (includes shipping) to the following address:

The monograph is primarily based on the never-before-published manuscript BIOGRAFIA DEL PRESBITERO ANTONIO JOSE MARTINEZ written by Santiago Valdez in 1877 and that is housed at the Huntington Library near Los Angeles. It also includes other primary resources, including data from the archives of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, State of NM, Vatican Archives, and Notre Dame University.

In both the historic record and the popular imagination, the story of nineteenth-century westward expansion in America has been characterized by notions of annexation rather than colonialism, of opening rather than conquering, and of settling unpopulated lands rather than displacing existing populations.

Using the territory that is now New Mexico as a case study, Manifest Destinies traces the origins of Mexican Americans as a racial group in the United States, paying particular attention to shifting meanings of race and law in the nineteenth century.

ATTENTION: ARTISTS, HISTORIANS, EDITORS, WRITERS, TRANSLATORS, and COMPUTER TECHS. padremartinez.org is a self-sustaining web site and is published with the help of volunteers and through contributions. If you have any of the talents or resources requested please contact me at: vmmtz@mac.com

Reburial of Padre Martinez

Padre Martínez died on July 27, 1867. According to burial records he was buried in his oratorio as he requested in his last will and testament. The burial ceremony held on July 29, 1867 was officiated by Mariano de Jesús Lucero, his student, friend, and fellow excommunicated priest from Arroyo Hondo. For many years, historians and Padre Martínez scholars have wondered about how the remains of Padre Martínez ended up at the Kit Carson Cemetery. The details of the reburial were reported in the June 25, 1891 edition of El Monitor, an early Taos newspaper, which has recently come to light thanks to Fr. Tom Steele, S.J. Read more….

The Progeny of Padre Martinez of Taos, Part 1

Progeny has always been a controversial issue with respect to Padre Martínez because of the moral issues it raises with regard to the priesthood and vows of celibacy. The issue of progeny was first discussed publicly by Dora Ortiz y Vásquez in her memoir, Enchanted Temples of Taos (1975), with regard to her grandfather, George Antonio Romero, the first-born son of María Teodora Romero and Padre Martínez. In his comprehensive and well documented biography of Padre Martínez, BUT TIME AND CHANCE:The Story of Padre Martínez of Taos, 1793-1867, (1981) Fray Angelico Chávez, researched the baptismal registries of the Archives of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, and began the process of identifying the progeny of Padre Martinez and addressed some of the moral and religious implications. Based on these initial studies, Vicente M. Martínez, in an article, The Progeny of Padre Martínez, published in the New Mexico Genealogist Journal (June 2007) further scrutinized and expanded the data presented by both Vásquez and Chávez, and made some interesting discoveries. Read more…

Postscript to The Progeny of Padre Martinez of Taos, Part 2

Postscript to the Progeny examines new data on the identity of Santiago Valdez the putative son of Padre Martínez refuting the theory proposed by Fray Chávez in
BUT TIME AND CHANCE. Read more…

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF PADRE MARTINEZ is a new film documentary being produced by ESPINOSA PRODUCTIONS. Paul Espinosa is an award-winning independent filmmaker who uses the power of media to tell stories about unsung heroes whose lives inspire us. Two of his works widely viewed on PBS-TV include THE BORDER, a two-hour news magazine about contemporary life along the border, and also THE U.S.-MEXICAN WAR: 1846-1848. Espinosa Productions has applied to various funding sources for grants to finance the documentary, but the main source for funding the project will be from private individuals like us. WE NEED YOUR FINANCIAL SUPPORT TO MAKE THIS FILM! FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO CONTRIBUTE GO TO: http://www.espinosaproductions.com/development/padre.html